Stardust Sacrifices
by EmpyreanSun
Summary: When Chekov is kidnapped from onboard the Enterprise, the rest of the crew must pull together to find out why, and get their youngest member back. When the situation becomes deadlier than expected, Kirk makes a sacrifice for the ship's ensign. Whole crew fic. K for violence.
1. Chapter 1

A/N~ Hey guys, I know I've got other Avengers fics to be working on (naughty), but this idea has been brewing for a while and I loved the new Star Trek film so much I had to write it. Please review, as it's my first Trek fic and I love receiving your feedback. This is going to be a whole crew fic, and I'll be updating as quickly as possible. Enjoy!

Chapter One – Candescence

The familiar tone of McCoy's communicator roused his thoughts away from the small boxes he was counting. Trust Jim to distract him now.

"McCoy." He answered snappishly, pulling the device from his belt and flipping it open.

True to form it was Kirk's cheerful call that greeted him. "Bones. Have you got everything you need?"

"I would have if I wasn't being interrupted at every turn." Bones grumbled.

"I'd hardly call contacting you once 'interrupting at every turn.'" The other man teased. Bones could hear the humour in his voice.

"It wasn't you I was talking about." The Doctor muttered thinking back to his earlier encounter with the Scottish engineer.

The _Enterprise_ had docked to stock up on supplies and McCoy had suggested he be one of the crew to go aboard the station. As Chief Medical Officer he knew the supplies they needed better than anyone else, and the _Enterprise_ docked so rarely, that, while he'd unlikely every admit it, a small part of him had desired the change of scenery.

He hadn't been off the ship five minutes when he'd collided, almost literally, with Montgomery Scott heading back from the engineering division. The red-haired man had proceeded to tell the doctor in excited tones about the new part he'd been looking for. Apparently there were less than one hundred and fifty manufactured each year, and the Scot had managed to purchase one.

He'd been saying something about it potentially being the key to a new element of teleportation he was trying to develop. 'Trying' being the key word, Bones thought to himself, drifting back to the present conversation.

"I've almost got everything. Give me ten minutes and I'll be back on the ship." He replied to Kirk, his eyes never leaving the medicinal boxes.

"Alright. We depart as soon as your back. Any more than ten minutes and I'm getting Chekov to beam you back."

"You know, the medical division is a lot further than any of the others." Bones huffed.

"Then start running. Nine minutes fifty two seconds."

"You better hope I don't miss anything vital or you might regret it next time you get yourself into another scrape."

"Is that a threat on my life?" Jim was audibly trying not to chuckle again, and failing badly.

"Call it a friendly warning. McCoy out." The CMO rolled his eyes and failed to suppress a smirk and he slotted his communicator back into his belt.

Finishing counting the boxes of supplies he needed, he paid for them, told the pharmacist which ship to send them to and headed back towards the _Enterprise_. The walk back was full of all manner of species mingling on the gangway or dashing here and there. Bones had to weave his way through them, and was jostled more than once by a passer-by.

One individual bumped him particularly roughly, hard enough to make the doctor turn to look back and see a ebony-cloaked figure heading in the opposite direction. Bones frowned and grumbled to himself about manners, but carried on, and the figure was soon forgotten as he saw the familiar sight of the U.S.S. _Enterprise_ looming up ahead.

~ST~

Once the new medical supplies and other cargo they had stocked up on were safely on board and Jim had made a few jibing jokes about McCoy's speed getting back, they took off and the doctor headed back to the sick bay.

He would have liked to stay on the bridge, but he preferred to store the new supplies away himself. By doing so he knew that next time there was an emergency, which would most likely involve Jim, he knew exactly where everything was and could retrieve the necessary treatments without impediment.

As he neared the medical bay he felt the almost imperceptible jolt that meant they'd hit warp. He doubted many of the other crew members noticed it, but the ship seemed to hum at warp, almost as if it were as alive as they.

Kirk would say she was. He had always seemed more in tune with the ship; Bones had noticed it just after Jim had become Captain. He seemed to understand her and have compassion for her as if she was a being, a part of his crew. While he might not always know exactly what was wrong, or how to fix it, he had proven during their battle against Khan that he was willing to go to serious lengths to save not only the crew, but the _Enterprise_ itself as well.

Bones shook his thoughts away from Kirk as he entered the medical bay. It would only serve to inflate Jim's ego if the blonde man knew Bones was thinking about him. And he was egotistical enough already. The bay was empty of other crew, unsurprising since there were no current injuries or illnesses, so the doctor set to work filing away the new stock.

He didn't notice a small oval-shaped object, black in colour, but cloaked to hide its presence, detach itself from where it had been pinned on his blue med division shirt, and fly out through the bay doors as they closed behind him. As the _Enterprise_ progressed on its way, the concealed probe began to scan the ship's crew and equipment, all the while sending signals back to its proprietor, for the entity being sought.

~ST~

Pavel Chekov sat in his usual seat to the right of Sulu, studying the panel before him. The bridge was a picture of tranquillity for once, the usual frenetic activity calmed to a minimum. Sulu was piloting in comfortable silence next to him and the Captain had just been talking with Spock behind them.

The young ensign's attention was drawn swiftly back from the background to the panel in front of him. The radar was bleeping impatiently, suggesting an incoming ship, but when Chekov studied it nothing indicated one was actually there. Puzzled, he glanced up at the glass screen separating them from the stars beyond. They weren't at warp any longer, and the expanse of space ahead was clear.

"Captain." Chekov called as the bleeping became more incessant. He half turned in his chair to seek guidance and the Captain met his gaze, vibrant blue eyes looking almost luminous in the light of the bridge. "Ve are receiving a signal zat zere is an incoming ship ahead, yet it iz not showing up on ze radar."

"Switch to infra-red." Kirk commanded, showing only the briefest hint of a frown.

Chekov spun back around in his chair and carried out the order. "Ze infra-red iz showing a ship straight ahead Captain." He said quickly inhaling a breath as he studied the radar. "Zey're powering up firearms sir."

"Sulu raise shields." The Captain said without hesitation.

Sulu swept his fingers across the console several times before he too turned to face the Captain.

"Shields are offline sir. I can't raise them manually either."

"Chekov contact engineering, someone raise Scotty. Uhura try and hail the ship. Request that they disengage their weapons. Find out what they want." Kirk fired off, sitting forward in his chair. "If they're cloaked, and stay that way, we won't have any idea which direction they'll fire from." There was an urgency in his voice now. "They could hit us anywhere."

Kirk tapped a few buttons on the Captain's chair. "Attention all crew, this is your Captain speaking. We have a potentially hostile ship straight ahead. Shields are currently down and unresponsive so prepare for possible incoming fire. Strap in or find somewhere safe. Kirk out."

Just then Chekov opened a line to Scotty.

"Scotty! Shields are down and we can't raise them, what's going on?" Kirk called loudly, wasting no time.

"Captain!" The Scotsman's thick accent came through. "Something's interfering with our mainframe connection. It's jamming the shields, I can't get them back up."

"Can you fix it?"

"Aye, I should be able to. But I need someone to man the control panel here while I reroute the central wiring to manually refresh the connection between the mainframe and shields. Someone needs to lock onto what's jamming the signal, and override it. They have to be done simultaneously, otherwise there's no guarantee it'll work."

"Don't you have someone in engineering who can do that?" Kirk asked, his voice betraying traces of concern.

"There's only Stephens here with me and he doesn't know the system well enough yet."

"Chekov!" Kirk turned, pinning his eyes, now the colour of ice, on the young ensign. "Can you do what he's asking?"

"Yes sir, I sink I can do zat."

"Good, go!" Kirk fired off, and the young boy leapt out of his seat, sprinting towards the bridge doors. As they opened for him, Spock appeared in their entrance, the Russian nearly colliding with him, before altering his course and running past.

The Vulcan turned to watch him go before looking back towards the Captain, one questioning eyebrow raised.

"Captain-"

"Spock, take over from Chekov, and strap in." Jim interrupted. "That goes for everybody. Sulu will fill you in. We're about to come under fire. Scotty!" He bellowed at the open line, breaking eye contact with his second in command, and looking up as if he might see the Scot's face on the glass screen ahead. Spock stroke across the bridge towards Chekov's vacated seat.

"Do you-" But he never got to finish his sentence, as at that moment the first round of gunfire came from the cloaked ship, striking the starboard side of the _Enterprise_.

Spock was thrown to his knees, having not yet reached his chair, and several others who had not yet managed to strap in were thrown out of theirs. Uhura landed painfully on the floor, and Sulu was jerked forward, his head jarring against the panel before him. As the explosion crested, the bridge began to shudder vehemently, before the eruption slowly petered out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two – Seized

A/N – Thanks for the reviews you wonderful people, they were lovely to read, keep them coming! One comment I got mentioned that I hadn't phonetically typed Chekov's speech and, while I assumed people would just read it in his voice, I'll try and incorporate it into this chapter. I should also mention that I've been doing some reading up on Star Trek villains and none of them seemed fit the bill for what I was looking for in this story. I also didn't want to do any injustice by writing them inadequately so I've created my own species instead of using an existing one. More about them will become clear as the story progresses. So, onwards!

Kirk manoeuvred himself upwards from the slumped position he had ended up in after the impact of the explosion.

"Everybody alright?" He called out.

There was a chorus of resonantly uncertain 'yes Captain's, and those he made eye contact with nodded at him. Spock quickly got to his feet and seated himself in Chekov's vacated chair.

"Where were we hit Spock?" Kirk asked immediately.

"The lower hull Captain. Six point four meters below the main deck of the bridge." As ever, in the face of a potentially life-threatening situation, Spock sounded immovably calm.

"Any damage?" Kirk responded running a hand through his hair absently.

"Just superficial to the outer body. It would seem that was a warning shot to attract our attention."

"Uhura, have you managed to hail them?"

"No Captain, they aren't responding to any of my messages, and they haven't attempted to make contact." The communications officer, now back in her seat, called over.

"Keep trying." Kirk ordered. "Whatever they want it's clearly not a friendly chat."

Another explosion hit the ship them, rattling through the bridge like an air-displacing shockwave.

"Spock?!" Kirk practically shouted over the dense rumbling threading its way through the ship.

"That last blast was thirty two per cent more powerful than the previous one Captain. It impacted on E deck in an empty cargo bay two floors above the medical wing. The bay is sealed and the air supply to the ship is subsequently safe. Damage to surrounding floors appears to be minimal."

"_Appears to be?_"

"There is no guarantee that they have been completely unharmed, but debris should be negligible." The Vulcan replied, his grip on the chair being the only indicator he was not completely at ease.

Kirk himself had also tensed when his second-in-command mentioned the medical bay.

_Bones. _He had been there storing the new supplies. Kirk was poised to spring from his seat, but rational thought stayed his actions.

His responsibilities as Captain couldn't be ignored in favour of his responsibilities as a friend.

"Re-establish the line to engineering." He ordered. "Find out if Chekov's there and how Scotty's doing. I want to speak to one of them. And someone get McCoy on the line. He was in the med bay when the explosion hit."

The last sentence tasted bitter in his mouth with the lack of knowledge on Bones's whereabouts and wellbeing.

"Spock do we still have sight of the other ship in infra-red?"

"Yes Captain."

"Alright, Sulu fire a warning shot. Target their weapons."

"With all due respect Captain, there is a high percentage chance our fire power is superior to their own. While they _are_ cloaked and we are not, we have used the heat signatures to determine their location. Why not simply open maximum fire?" Spock queried, eyebrow raised.

"Because they've only fired on us twice and both shots have hit uninhabited areas. From the heat signatures of their weapons it seems they have some pretty heavy artillery. If they wanted to knock us out of warp they could have done so already. This seems like a distraction-"

He was interrupted by the lift door opening out onto the bridge. Bones stepped out looking slightly dishevelled, but otherwise intact. There was a small, benign-looking cut on his forehead above his right eye that Jim didn't fail to note.

"Bones!" He exclaimed, rising from the captain's chair in relief. You alright?"

"Fine." Bones answered in a sulky tone. "I'd be a damn sight better if someone would explain what the hell is going on?!"

"We're under attack from what we believe to be an enemy ship." Jim supplied.

"_Believe_ to be?" Bones repeated somewhat incredulously.

"Well it's hard to be sure when we can't see them." Kirk retorted, allowing a slight hint of annoyance to slip into his tone.

"They're cloaked?" Bones was incredulous again, this time for entirely different reasons.

"Yeah but we've detected their location using their heat engine and weapons' heat signatures. They're firing on us but they aren't even using a fifth of their estimated fire capacity. Strange behaviour if they wanted to take us down."

Before the doctor could reply Uhura announced that she had a line open with engineering.

"Scotty how're you doing?" Kirk called over the comms.

"It'z Chekov, Captain. Mizter Scott haz gone to ze ozer control panel to reroute ze viring."

"Chekov, good man, how close are you to getting the shields back up?"

"Relatively close sir. I've detected ze anomaly causing ze malfunction. I just need to jam ze signal it'z sending out."

"How long are we looking at Chekov?"

"Approximately two and a halv minutes Captain."

"Alright, good job. Stay on the line."

Kirk was acutely reminded of how young his navigations officer was. He had a vivacity that matched his youth, but a mature sense of responsibility that even Kirk hadn't found in himself until he'd joined Starfleet.

Bones was by his side now; a position usually adopted by Spock, who was still seated in front of them.

"The shields are down? Good God no wonder we're taking hits from every direction. Does the kid know what even caused them to go down?"

"We think something's interfering with the system – some sort of anomaly, as he said."

"That sounds like the technical term for 'you don't know'." Bones snorted.

Privately Jim found it almost endearing the way Bones called anyone younger than him 'kid'. Although this was mainly reserved for himself and Chekov. Jim had initially though it patronising, but since then it had grown on him. He had come to realise that, while Bones would never admit it, it was a sign he cared.

Spock cut through Jim's mental paper-trail.

"Captain, we're getting readings of a foreign signal being transmitted from engineering deck A."

"The anomaly Chekov mentioned?"

"I believe so."

"What kind of signal is it?" Kirk asked.

"It would appear to be some kind of homing transmitter. Not one that is familiar to our system." Spock replied.

"Could have come from the other ship. It can't be a coincidence." Bones chimed in.

"That type of transmitter is sometimes used as a probe for detailed life-sign searches." Kirk said frowning. "What, or who, are they looking for?"

"Captain." There was a single-minded urgency in Spock's tone. "Three foreign life signs have just beamed aboard the _Enterprise_."

"Where?" Kirk demanded.

"Engineering deck A." Spock announced, turning to face the two men behind him.

"Whatever they're searching for they obviously found it." Bones said, his tone ominous and gaze rooted on Jim.

The blonde-haired man was looking at neither of them, instead staring downwards, his look calculating and eyebrows drawn together.

Abruptly his face paled, displaying the true brightness of his eyes as his head snapped up.

"Chekov."

As if summoned by the mention of his name there was a cry from the open comms line that was unmistakeably the young Russian's, followed by some garbled Scottish shouting. Kirk urgently called the names of both men before the line disconnected of its own accord, leaving the crew members on the bridge in raw silence.

Before anyone else could react the Captain had his phaser in hand and was sprinting for the doorway.

"Spock, Bones, Uhura with me. Sulu take command of the bridge." He yelled, finishing the last part already through the door, with the three he had named running to catch up.

It was in these moments that the doctor realised Kirk's athleticism was second to none. Only Spock, of a different race, could catch him, and even this time, hurtling round corner and weaving their way to engineering, he wasn't fast enough.

They burst through the primary doors onto deck A, Jim, then Spock and Uhura, with Bones behind them. The sight that greeted them was enough to immediately mute the part of Bones's brain that had been wondering if Jim joined Starfleet just for the heroic running.

Three beings of a species the doctor couldn't classify stood before them. They were tall in stature and human in shape, but their eyes were a stormy violet and they had silver facial markings outlining their eyes and jaws.

Two of them had short horns protruding from their hairline, which the doctor assumed marked them out as male. They stood on their side of Chekov, who called the Captain's name when he entered, one pinning the young Russian's arms behind his back, and the other levelling something akin to a phaser at his head.

The other stood a metre from Scotty, who was shouting agitatedly but had his hands up in surrender, looking more concerned for Chekov than himself, with a phaser levelled at his heart. Her longer onyx hair and lack of horns marked her out as female. She appeared to be standing close enough to the Scotsman not to miss his vitals, but far enough away that he couldn't knock the weapon from her hand, if he hadn't been too preoccupied.

Kirk, Spock and Uhura held kept their phasers levelled on the three intruders as Kirk told them to stand down. Bones, not often in the habit of carrying one while on board the ship, came to the swift and unpleasant realisation that Jim had ordered him to go with them in case there were casualties. He tried to steel himself for what was coming.

The female of the group spoke up in a harsh hissing language that sounded incomprehensible to Bones. Uhura quickly translated, keeping her phaser completely steady.

"She says you have no business telling them to stand down without doing so yourself first."

"Tell her I'm not the one holding her crew hostage." Kirk answered back without missing a beat. "Tell them to let our men go and ask them what they want. Why did they send a probe on board our ship?"

After another cacophonic reply Uhura stated: "She says not to be so quick with your tongue or one of your men may lose a limb just as quickly." The linguist swallowed, composing herself before continuing. "The probe was designed to scan life forms aboard another ship and transmit back inconspicuously."

"Inconspicuously enough to show up on our system."

"She admits they underestimated our technology. As for letting them go, they're hardly going to give up what they came for."

As Uhura finished translating the female creature took a slow step back, then another, away from Scotty until she was in line with her two companions still holding the Russian.

"It's Chekov, they came for Chekov." Kirk yelled as the three creatures opened fire. The members of the _Enterprise_ crew dived for the ground, rolling out of the line of attack. Kirk, Uhura and Spock returned cautious fire, consciously avoiding Chekov, as a beam of light began to lock onto the four figures.

One of the male creatures managed to graze Spock and the female turned and sent Scotty sprawling with a shot to the leg. Jim bellowed the Scotsman's name and struck a returning shot squarely in her shoulder, plunging her backwards as a silver field descended around them and beamed all four out. The last thing Kirk saw was Chekov's wide eyes as he vanished.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three – Pursuit among the Asteroids

A/N – Sorry about the wait for this chapter guys, I've been on holiday in the South of France for the last two weeks. The Cote d'Azur is really beautiful and I was inspired to write up the next couple of chapters for this story in the sunshine and heat. Thanks again for the continued support, reviews really make my day when I check my emails and find that someone likes my story enough to take the time to comment. I should also mention that I'm thinking of changing the title for this fic because I'm not as happy with it as I was, and I'd like to know whether you guys like it, or would prefer something different?

For a heartbeat nobody moved. The lingering silver dust of the transporter beam shimmered like a curtain, drawing an inescapable divide between the crew and their youngest member. The dancing mist would have been ethereally beautiful if it wasn't tinged with the injustice of what had just transpired.

As with before Kirk was the quickest to react. Between one beat and the next he was on his feet, the position he had been firing from vacated gracefully. McCoy sometimes found himself envying the blonde man's adept movements.

He dropped down next to Scotty, checking him over whilst radioing Sulu over the comm link and telling him not to lose the other ship. Leonard himself quickly moved over to Spock to check the Vulcan's injury.

"I am fine doctor, please attend to Mister Scott."

After muttering that he would be the one to decide that, the doctor ran his tricorder over Spock's arm. As the second-in-command had assured him, it wasn't serious. McCoy left Spock's side and jogged to kneel beside Scotty, opposite Jim.

The Chief Engineer was fully conscious, his defiant attempts to sit up being thwarted by Jim's hand pressing down firmly, but delicately, down on his chest.

"It was just a wee scratch Captain. Nothing serious."

"If I hear that one more time, the only person I'll be giving a hypo to is myself." McCoy grouched, running his tricorder over Scotty's injured leg and giving a sidelong glance at Jim.

The reaction he got was far from the one he'd been expecting. The blonde-haired Iowan was perhaps the only person he'd met who chuckled at his sarcastic jokes consistently- even the ones that left most people looking uneasy. Jim seemed to actually relish McCoy's sense of humour, and would usually be grinning or attempting to hide a smile when the doctor caught his eye after a quip.

This time the Captain was ivory white, and was looking past Bones and Scotty rather than at them. There was no humour to be seen in his face; he looked stricken.

Bones suddenly realised the comm link to Sulu was still open.

"Go to warp, now. We can't lose them."

He paused for a moment, obviously listening to a response from the helmsman. "I know they're still cloaked and it's dangerous to follow with the shields down." He retorted a little too vehemently. "Take us to warp now and follow their engines' heat signature. That's an order. On my way back to the bridge. Kirk out."

When he looked back at Bones there was something in his eyes that the doctor couldn't decipher. Something beyond anger and worry. It was gone before he had time to read what it was.

"Is he going to be ok?" He asked Bones, motioning to the CEO with one hand.

"Looks like slightly more than just a flesh wound." The CMO replied as he finished running his tricorder over the injury. "There's some muscle and tissue damage but it's not too serious. I'll need to give him a hypo and get him to the med bay to fix him up, but he should be fine in an hour or so."

"But doctor, ah need to finish repairing the shields. Can'ae you do it here? We were almost done when they appeared. Ah'd just returned here when they took us by surprise. I'm sorry Captain…" He trailed off looking downcast.

"Listen to me; it is not your fault. You couldn't have known what was going to happen."

Scotty began to protest, but Kirk cut him off. "This isn't your fault. We'll get him back."

It always struck Bones that eyes as icy blue as Jim's could hold so much warmth when they needed to. As he turned them on Leonard they became cool and focused again.

"Get a team down here. Take him up to sick bay. Don't let him back down to fix those shields until you've given him a full bill of clean health." He turned away. "Spock, Uhura, you both alright?"

"Yes Captain."

"Fine Captain."

"Good. Both of you with me. We're needed on the bridge."

With that he was striding off to the doors they had entered through, leaving a trail of concentrated determination for Spock and Uhura to follow.

~ST~

Kirk swept through the doors to the call of 'Captain on the bridge'. Normally those words were a sonorous chime that made his heart swell. This time he barely heard them.

Flanked by Spock and Uhura, who resumed her seat at the communications station, he made a beeline for Sulu.

As he'd jogged back from engineering, Kirk had felt the subtle hum that told him they were at warp. The sound was as familiar to him as his own voice.

Sulu continued to look straight ahead, his eyebrows curved downwards forming an expression of concentration, but as Kirk approached acknowledged him with a 'Captain'.

"Sulu, report."

"We're following them at warp Captain, as you ordered. They have the advantage of being cloaked but their ship's not as fast as ours."

If the other man had been annoyed by Kirk's previously sharp tone, he didn't show it now.

"Maintain course. Increase our speed to maximum warp and target out weapons at their engines. We need to close the gap between the ships."

"Yes, sir."

Kirk remained standing, too electrified by tension to return to his chair. Spock, who had been standing several steps away observing the interaction, moved to his right-hand side.

"Captain, with the shields still down this is an unwise course of action. If they choose to reopen fire against us we remain completely unprotected."

"I'm fully aware of that Spock," Kirk replied, his tone belying a little of his internal strife, "but as this is their exit strategy it seems unlikely they'll fire on us. They got what they came for and now they're trying to make an escape as quickly as possible. Look at their warp cores, they're too busy trying to outrun us to fire on us."

Spock opened his mouth to give what would no doubt be a logically-driven reply, but was interrupted by Sulu.

"They're dropping out of warp Captain."

"Follow them," Kirk commanded, frowning at the unexpected behaviour, "and Uhura try hailing them again."

"Sir," Sulu said glancing quickly at his superior and then back at the screen before him, "there's an asteroid cloud directly ahead. The other ship's heading straight for it but if we try to go through after them with the shields down-"

"Keep following them." Kirk replied without hesitation.

Both Sulu and Spock began to protest at the same time but the Captain silenced them both with one utterance.

"They've got Chekov."

It was not quite an outburst, but was spoken with all the outrage and defiance of a man who'd met with an unforgivable injustice.

Sulu paled considerably before turning back to his screen, fingers flying over the panel before him with a renewed urgency. It was well known that the two command officers were good friends.

"Captain," Spock tried again, "please consider the consequences of your proposed actions."

Kirk stared straight ahead as he replied quietly, "I already have."

The response was resolute and Spock knew the sandy-haired man well enough to conclude that his mind would not be changed.

He resumed his previous position in the navigation chair and brought up the display of their trajectory.

Uhura again called out that they weren't responding on the hailing frequency. Spock cautioned Sulu about three sizable asteroids to their left.

"It's a minefield out there." Sulu stated, his face etched in concentration.

According to Spock, the enemy ship was navigating its was manually through the larger asteroids, and letting the shields to their work on the smaller ones.

With its shields still at zero capacity, the _Enterprise _had none of the same luxury. Sulu's face became increasingly fraught as the cloud became denser. Every now and then a creak or gentle thud signalled that an unavoidable, cloud-shaped grey boulder had struck the hull close to the bridge.

Kirk stood in front of his chair giving orders and checking with Spock if they had made up any ground. Enclosed in his hand was his communicator, out of sight to all but those who looked closely. He had tried calling Chekov on it earlier, when they were hurrying back to the bridge, but there had been no reply.

He tried again now. Nothing.

Pocketing the communicator, he refocused his attention on the main screen.

"Weapons are fully charged Captain."

"We can't risk firing on them with all this," he gestured to the shining clusters before them, "in the way in case we hit something vital. We only want to damage their ship, not destroy it. They may have other hostages on board for all we know." He paused for a moment before adding, "Set our weapons to minimum and blast through as much of this cloud in our immediate vicinity as you can."

Sulu followed the order and a pathway began to clear. He then charged the weapons to maximum again and targeted a spot that Spock had determined would do minimal damage to the other ship overall, but would impair their secondary engine enough to slow their speed.

"Fire." Kirk ordered grimly. He took no enjoyment in allowing something that had the potential to harm Chekov.

The beam struck the fleeing vessel instantaneously, losing some force as it phased through the shields, but still sending it veering off to the right slightly. It crunched into a turbulent stream of asteroids.

"A direct hit," Spock confirmed, "but their engines appear to be doing something most anomalous."

"What?" Kirk asked, an undercurrent of warning in his voice.

"The secondary engine is powering up when it should, in fact, be degenerating. Highly improbable."

"They must be diverting power from their primary engine." Someone from the engineering station called out.

"Infra-red shows that the entire ship is heating up at a rate of one degree per second Captain." Spock stated, eyes on the screen.

Kirk's perturbed expression suggested that he didn't trust this turn of events. "If they reach the edge of the cloud and go to warp we'll lose them. Fire again."

Sulu fired and a sharp burst of light flared across the main screen.

"Did that come from one of their engines?" Kirk demanded as the brightness receded.

"I believe so." Spock replied, but his dark eyebrows lowered into a frown.

"Talk to me Spock, did we hit our target?"

"No Captain."

"Then what did we hit? Their shields?" A hint of impatience flooded Kirk's voice. "That was an energy flare which usually comes from an engine, or something with the same density and heat capacity, blowing up."

"Our target was accurate Captain, but we failed to hit their ship. It appears…" Spock paused uncertainly and Kirk felt a rising tide of dread surging up through his chest. Spock was never unsure about anything.

When he turned to look at Jim directly, his outward façade was calm, but the blonde man knew he wasn't going to like what was coming next.

"It appears, Captain, that they've vanished."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four – Like Gravity, Responsibility Never Wavers

…Even in Space.

A/N – Thanks again for the reviews you lovely people. I've been trying to reply to my reviews more as I don't think I do enough, so if you review this chapter you'll definitely get a little thank you note from me. :)

I realise I've been pretty mean, keeping the action away from Chekov to create a little suspense, so in the next chapter you're going to find out what's happened to him. In this chapter when I mention he's eighteen – it's not a mistake. The events on Into Darkness take place in 2259, a year after events of the first film, and this story is set later in the same year.

I'm also still deliberating about whether or not to change the title of this fic, so any thoughts on that would be great. Enjoy!

Announcing over the comms to the whole ship that they had lost both a crew member and the fleeing ship was one of the more testing things Kirk had had to do in his time so far as Captain.

He felt as if the gold of his command shirt had taken the form of its true metal and was weighing him down, dragging his heart towards the ground.

The crew of the _Enterprise_ faced potential kidnap, torture and death each day, but often these were a result of events moving beyond their control, or intervention against hostile forces.

_This_ had been orchestrated.

"Spock, run the physical makeup of that species for analysis. I want to know what race they are, where they come from, and any weaknesses. Uhura. As soon as we have that information contact Starfleet, explain what happened and tell them our course of action is still pursuit. Request permission to postpone the rendezvous with the Martian flagship indefinitely. Finding Chekov is our priority now. Sulu set a course to the coordinates we have of the other ship's last known location before it disappeared."

"I want Karida and Hailson" he continued, gesturing to the two officers sitting at the engineering station, "to analyse the remaining energy trail once we're there. Spock, take over command until I'm back."

The orders were given with none of the usual spark or flare, but instead had a note of unyielding frostiness to them. Kirk stepped into the lift and left the bridge with the same eerie calm that descends before the blossoming of a thunder storm.

~ST~

McCoy had finished his ministrations and was just about to discharge his patient when Kirk walked in.

"Cap'n!" He heard Scotty exclaim, making him turn from where he was cleaning up.

Jim stood still in the entrance to the medical bay for a beat, acknowledging each of them with a nod, before moving across to the engineer's bed and enquiring about his health.

McCoy and Scotty, like everyone else, had heard the Captain's announcement. The doctor knew Jim would take the blame entirely upon himself.

Even before he'd become a captain, he'd always deemed himself acutely responsible for the lives of others; an accountability of such conviction that McCoy had yet to see in anyone else.

In a tactics simulation exercise at the Academy, Bones remembered hearing that a cadet on Jim's team had disobeyed protocol and ended up getting himself shot in the shoulder. One of the medics Bones knew had patched the guy up, and, while he wouldn't disclose too many details, said it was nothing serious.

McCoy had asked Jim about it the next day and, under the threat of an unnecessary hypo, the younger man explained that the other cadet, their team leader, thought he'd found a shortcut through the exercise course. Without consulting the rest of the team on whether or not it could be a trap, he took them straight through it.

Jim, it turned out, had practically carried the guy out and almost single-handedly saved the team from failing, although he appeared to play down these elements of the story.

Instead he chose to focus on how close the team had come to failing, blaming himself for the other cadet's rash actions and for not getting them to the end point quicker. McCoy could in no way see how it was Jim's fault – he had saved them from disaster - and told him this at the time, yet he still spent the next three days being resentful of his perceived shortcomings.

It took Bones crossly threatening to reassign Jim to another doctor if he didn't snap out of it for the Iowan to return to his usual self.

That was the first time McCoy realised Jim had a more ardent sense of his own responsibilities than most people. Even in a team he wasn't leading, everyone was his responsibility. He was also resolutely displeased every time someone risked their own life, yet had no trouble doing it himself for others.

Just a month ago he'd knocked Bones out of the way of falling debris on a moon expedition, resulting in a dislocated shoulder.

The doctor had berated him all the way back to the _Enterprise_, but Jim had just grinned foolishly – even when he'd set the joint.

Afterwards, when he had exasperatedly asked the blonde-haired man why he did these things, Jim said, a little more soberly, "The doctor's one of the most valuable members of the crew, Bones. If you were to be injured, who'd heal you?"

McCoy muttered an annoyed response about people dodging questions. As much as he was loathe to admit it, Jim made a valid point. While he was by no means the only medical officer on the ship, he _was_ the highest ranking, and had the most experience in dealing with a variety of different wounds and ailments – more than a few of them thanks to Jim.

He hated the idea that his being incapacitated might result in others losing out on treatment.

McCoy's thoughts were drawn back to the present by the Scotsman's animated voice.

"It was a lot worse than it looked Cap'n. Ah was just aboot to return to engineering and finish fixing the shields."

The red-haired man sat, legs over the right side of his bed, with one trouser leg cut off above the knee. He seemed surprised by the Captain's visit. McCoy, however, wasn't; he knew how much Jim liked the outlandish engineer.

The doctor moved to stand on the opposite side of the bed to Jim.

"With everyone self-diagnosing round here it's a wonder there's any need for me." McCoy grouched.

"Sorry doc." Scotty said, having the decency to look abashed.

McCoy softened his expression.

"Whatever they were using, they weren't Federation-design phasers. They didn't burn the skin, they shredded it down to the muscle," he explained, "you were lucky they didn't hit anything more vital."

Scotty grimaced, as though reliving the experience, and Kirk looked troubled.

"Did you have problems healing it?" The latter of the two asked.

"No, it just took longer than usual." Bones responded. He was about to say more but Scotty spoke up.

"Trust me Cap'n, you don' want to get hit with one o' those. Felt like it ripped a hole right though me leg."

"It almost did." McCoy quipped. He turned his gaze on Jim. "How did they manage to outrun us?" He asked incredulously.

It was well known that the _Enterprise_ was one of the fastest, if not perhaps _the_ fastest constitution class ship.

"They didn't," Kirk said simply, "they just vanished without a trace. The ship didn't go to warp, it was like it just dematerialised. I'm having Sulu take us to their last known coordinates to see if they've left any form of a trail or debris."

"Do we know what species those three were?"

"Not yet, I've got Spock running an analysis now. Engineering are searching for engine vapour trails and Uhura's reporting in with Starfleet HQ." Jim reeled off. "Are you all done here?" He asked Bones.

"I've given him a bill of clean health." The doctor said by way of explanation.

"Good." He turned his bright eyes on Scotty. "Head down to deck A and finish fixing the shields." The CEO had climbed off the bed and appeared to be testing out his leg. "Once you're done there change your uniform and return to the bridge."

"Aye Captain." The Scotsman affirmed with an assured nod, before leaving the room.

McCoy noted that he appeared to have less of his usual sprightliness about him, which he attributed, not to him having had his leg sliced open, but to the disappearance of the young navigator.

The CEO was rather fond of the young ensign, having recognised his aptitude for the more complex aspects of engineering, and taken it upon himself to guide the younger man.

As it became instantly clear that Chekov was a protégé, the delighted Scotty had begun to teach him some of the more finitely tricky and specialised jobs engineering had to offer. He was even privy to parts of Scotty's solo projects that few others were,

As his red shirt disappeared through the sliding glass doors of the med bay and out of sight, Bones knew he was more fearful for Chekov's life than he was letting on.

Bones realised that Jim was saying something and quickly reverted his attention back to him.

"How could this happen?"

Bones knew that coming from Jim, this was a rhetorical question.

"He was right there and I couldn't stop them from taking him. How could I let this happen?"

That one, he could answer.

"You didn't _let_ it happen, you did everything you could to stop them."

"But it wasn't enough was it?! Jim responded stringently. "They took him from right in front of me because I didn't follow the protocol for negotiation."

The distress was palpable in the younger man's voice, and when Leonard looked up it was also evident in his eyes, making them brittle as blue granite. The controlled anger Jim had displayed earlier toward the abductors was turning inwards toward himself.

"I don't think it would have made a difference if you had followed the protocol down to the last line." Bones said dejectedly. "You saw the way they abducted him; it was cold and ruthless, and you know there's no way they would have listened to reasoning. Plus there were four other officers present, and none of us managed to do anything to salvage the situation." He finished, not unkindly.

"I'm the _Captain_, Bones. It's my job to keep the situation in hand, so other officers don't _have_ to salvage it."

"You're acting as though you could have prevented this if you'd had the foresight to see it coming." McCoy declared incredulously.

"I knew something was amiss with those explosions Bones. They fired on us, but missed all the vital areas that could have put us out of commission. Our shields were down – they could have been blindfolded and still hit something crucial - but every shot struck hull plating, or storage decks. It was a _diversion_ so they could beam aboard. They admitted the probe we detected was theirs, and I'm willing to bet they were responsible for the shields going down – without our shields in place they had a way in."

"But where did the probe come from?" McCoy asked, startled that Jim had deduced all this so quickly, but curious in spite of himself.

"There's only one place it could have come from."

"You don't think…the station?"

"Where else?"

"But we were barely there for a few hours and everyone signed in and out. We would have been alerted if someone had tried to stow away."

"I don't think anyone came on board to plant it Bones. If their ship was cloaked, why not the probe?"

"So they got in onboard invisibly?"

"They couldn't risk being seen at the station as they knew we'd tighten security. They must have planted it on something that came aboard the ship."

"Even if this is all true," Bones said trying to rationalise the situation, "you couldn't possibly have known they were going to abduct a member of the crew, much less Chekov."

"I recognised the type of probe – I _knew _they scan life signs, yet I still didn't make the connection. And why him?" Jim responded immediately, pouncing on that line of argument. "Why Chekov? What do they want with him? He's got a clean record, no enemies, and if they'd wanted one of his possessions they clearly didn't take it. The only thing they got away with was him." He rubbed a hand through his blonde hair, frustrated.

"Maybe it wasn't that kind of possession." Bones said quietly.

Jim's head snapped up, eyes taking on something of an azure quality in the sharpness of the medical lights.

"You think they want him for what he knows about _Enterprise_?"

"Maybe," Bones said uncertainly, "it wouldn't be the first time a member of Starfleet has been taken hostage and tortured for information. And he is an eighteen year old prodigy."

In his mind, the doctor flashed back to the Romulan's capture of Admiral Pike, who had been captaining _Enterprise_ at the time. Jim seemed vexed by this, if his darkening expression was anything to go by, and Bones realised he must have been thinking about the same thing.

"You have to face the possibility", he said slowly, trying and failing to find a way of wording his thoughts that wasn't so blunt, "that they may have taken him to get to you.

"Then why not just take me?!" Kirk exploded, beginning to pace.

"Well for one you weren't on the deck at the time they arrived." McCoy snapped back, his temper flaring to match Jim's.

"No, but I arrived soon after, and they certainly didn't pick him at random just because he was in engineering; this was calculated. They could have made a trade-off, or announced any number of demands, but they still chose to take him."

He sighed, and Leonard could almost see him visibly attempting to quell his anger. When he looked up his face was set in grim determination. "Whatever they want from him, it doesn't look good. We have to find him. Let's get back to the bridge. There are a few minor injuries I'd like you to take a look at. Sulu's got a nasty cut that needs attention."

As the two men headed out of the medical bay, Jim's thoughts returned to the youngest member of their crew.

In his past, he had seen other teenagers' lives taken from them before they could reach their next birthday. So much untapped potential gone in an instant. So much life and fire and energy, that constitutes a person's future, dissolved from one moment to the next.

Bones had no knowledge about him being on Tarsus IV, although Jim knew he suspected something from the first time he'd his medical file, and so couldn't voice his thoughts out loud. But he vowed unequivocally, there and then, that he would not let the same thing happen to Chekov. No-one else with their whole future ahead of them would die if he could prevent it.

6


End file.
